Peterborough Public Health has launched a beta version of its new online COVID-19 Community Risk Index to help indicate when transmission levels are high in the area.
Launched on Wednesday morning, the index will provide a risk level of COVID-19 transmission in the health unit’s jurisdiction by utilizing data such as wastewater surveillance signals, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths, the percentage positivity of PCR tests and community-reported rapid-antigen tests (through the health unit’s online survey), and the local case incidence rate per 100,000 residents.
The index, which will be updated each Wednesday around 4 p.m., can be found at peterboroughpublichealth.ca/covid-19-risk-index.
Each level on the index corresponds to specific public health guidance both for the general population and for those residents who are at high risk of serious health outcomes if they get infected. The health unit serves Peterborough, Peterborough County, Curve Lake First Nation and Hiawatha First Nation.
On Wednesday morning, the index is at “high risk,” of ongoing transmission, prompting concerns from medical officer of health Dr. Thomas Piggott, who noted the area has a high PCR test positivity rate and high wastewater surveillance values equivalent to levels seen during the Omicron variant surge in January 2022. As of Monday afternoon’s update, the health unit’s COVID-19 tracker reported 174 active PCR-confirmed cases in the region and five active outbreaks.
“This sixth wave we are starting into, like the fifth omicron wave, will disproportionately impact those who are more vulnerable in our communities: People still unvaccinated, elderly, medically at risk, and immunocompromised,” Piggott said. “Their protection depends on all of us taking simple actions to decrease transmissions as noted.”
Piggott noted the index will be of particular importance to people at higher risk of severe COVID who are needing evidence to make risk-based decisions.
“Each of our decisions to decrease transmission today will impact the context of the pandemic in our community tomorrow,” Piggott said. “I am closely watching the concerning evolving context, considering actions to reimpose requirements as I am responsible to do under the provincial legislation, and readying to take any measures needed to protect our community and those more vulnerable in it.”
Peterborough Public Health is one of the first health units in Ontario to produce a local COVID-19 community risk index and will eventually replace the COVID-19 tracker, said Piggott. The health unit says it wants to hear from residents about the index during its pilot phase. Feedback can be submitted via the health unit’s online survey.
— more to come
Comments